There's some good news today for T-Mobile customers in New York City.
T-Mobile activated its 2.5GHz 5G coverage in NYC today. Neville Ray, T-Mo's president of technology, confirmed the news that the carrier's 5G "layer cake" is now live in NYC with high-band mmWave, mid-band 2.5GHz, and low-band 600GHz 5G coverage.
There are currently two phones on T-Mobile that can access all three 5G bands: the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra. There are several other phones that can use the low-band 600MHz and mid-band 2.5GHz coverage, including the OnePlus 8 5G, OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, and LG V60 ThinQ 5G.
This is the second city where T-Mobile has activated its 2.5GHz 5G spectrum, with Philadelphia being the first to get it last month. T-Mo acquired this 2.5GHz spectrum as part of its merger with Sprint that closed on April 1.
The 2.5GHz spectrum was a major reason T-Mobile wanted to acquire Sprint, as it'll help the carrier build out its 5G network. High-band mmWave spectrum offers fast speeds but can't reach long distances, and the low-band 600MHz spectrum can reach greater distances but isn't very fast. The mid-band 2.5GHz spectrum helps to fill in the gap between high and low-band and give T-Mobile's 5G network greater depth and speeds.
While T-Mobile currently only has 2.5GHz 5G in two cities, it says that it's "moving quickly" to combine its network with Sprint's to boost its 5G network across the US. There's no word on where we might see T-Mo flip the 2.5GHz 5G switch next, though.